This is the book that introduces Nick Herald and it is a good one. Nick is a disgraced former college English teacher and has taken on genealogy as a new career. He's not doing very well at making money yet but is learning a great deal about the world of genealogy and how and where to find information. When an old man asks him to investigate a family that came through the Holocaust, Nick is intrigued and starts working. This case draws him into the world of big money and even bigger secrets.

There is a lot to enjoy in this books, people trying to hide their relationships with Jewish families, with African American blood and with decisions made many years ago that cause ripples of ugliness through the current day.

I have one more book to read in this series and I am looking forward to it next. ( )

I received this book free from Library Thing to read and review. This is the first genealogical mystery I have read. The story was well done, but it did drag a bit in several places, and the author spends a lot of time on descriptions and background, which could have been written more tightly and shorter. Nick Herald is a former professor who lost his job over some shady dealings (he proclaims his innocence) turned genealogical consultant, who is hired by two people to look into the same genealogy, one to get the records and story out the other to have the records and story destroyed. Nick travels throughout Louisiana from his home base in New Orleans searching for answers and clues to the genealogy in question, encountering some mystery and excitement along the way. Nick is a hardworking, earnest guy seeking answers. However, I am not sure I agree with or approve of his methods and actions all the time. Still, he does get the job done. I enjoyed the descriptions of Louisiana, but found them tedious at times. He could have written them more concisely. I also thought the ending of the story was rather weak, compared to other mysteries I have read. Nevertheless, this is a good book and has a lot of interesting information on Louisiana and genealogy research and worth reading. ( )

Great story about genealogy and the search for truth. We do not always know our history, or where we came from. This is a story of trying to cover the truth, and also trying to expose it. There are two forces at work, one good, and one evil, and one man just trying to make a living. I found some of his story hard to believe, but the book was well written and well planned. ( )